Vegas Massacre

by Whaleoil Staff on October 3, 2017 at 7:35am

At least 58 people have been killed in America’s deadliest mass shooting after a single gunman positioned on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 music fans attending a country-music festival shortly after 10 p.m. Sunday night local time.

The late-night murder spree is now the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, surpassing the death toll of Orlando’s Pulse nightclub massacre, which killed 49 people in 2016.

More than 500 people were taken to local hospitals, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Monday morning.

The suspected shooter, a man who lived locally, was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock.

He had an arsenal of at least 10 rifles in the hotel room from which he launched his attack, police said in a briefing before sunrise.

According to Deputy Sheriff Kevin McMahill, Paddock shot himself as police made entry to the hotel room he had occupied.

His brother Eric Paddock told MailOnline that the family was “dumbfounded” by what happened.

“He was just a guy,” he said. “Something happened, he snapped or something.”

Eric, who lives in Orlando, described his sibling as a gambler with “no religious affiliation, no political affiliation”, or history of mental illness.

He added: “The fact that he had those kinds of weapons is just … where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background or anything like that.

He’s a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite and drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.”

Paddock was not known to police before the attack that left more than 500 injured.

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said: “We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory.

When asked why the attack is not being treated as terrorism, Mr Lombardo said: “We have to establish what his motivation is first.

“There is motiving factors associated with terrorism other than a distraught person just intending to cause mass casualty. Before we label with that it will be a matter of process.”

ISIS has claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying Paddock was a “soldier of Islamic State” who had converted to Islam “months ago”.

The terror group’s claim has not been verified and contradicts earlier statements made by police. The FBI has not found any connection to the international terror group.

– Daily Beast, Express.co.uk

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